This invention relates to packages for surgical sutures and more particularly to a multi-panel, folded paper retainer for a plurality of coiled structures having needles attached hereto.
Packages for surgical sutures are constructed according to the nature of the suture and its intended use. In general, the ideal package holds and protects the suture during handling and storage, but allows the suture to be readily removed with a minimum of handling and difficulty.
One specific package consists of a folded paper suture retainer contained in a sterile, hermetically sealed envelope. The sterility of the suture in the envelope is maintained by a second sealed overwrap. When the suture is about to be used, the outerwrap is opened in the operating room, and the sealed envelope deposited in a sterile area. Sterile personnel thereupon tear open the envelope to gain access to the suture. A simplified improved suture package which allows simplified access to the package is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,696. Also, in many surgical procedures, the surgeon employs a large number of sutures and, hence, very often packages will be provided that contain multistrands of sutures. The major problem with multiple suture packages has been to provide a means for allowing individual sutures to be removed from the package without entanglement. Recently, suture packages have been developed to retain a bundle of sutures in a predetermined coiled configuration which permits, for the most part, individual sutures to be withdrawn from the package without entangling the remaining sutures. Such multistrand packages with single strand access are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,089,409 and 4,126,221.
These multistrand packages have been improved by new packages of the multistrand type with the needled ends of the sutures being automatically presented when the sterile envelope is opened. Such packages are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,563.
The multistrand suture packages described in the abovereferenced patents provide a very acceptable package to the operating room personnel; however, the packages are difficult to produce. One problem is to wind the sutures appropriately and maintain them in the wound condition so they are not even slightly moved when the retainer is folded and, hence, are correctly removed when opened for use by the operating room personnel. One way of assisting in the manufacture or the winding of the suture and the placement of it in its retainer is more fully described in co-pending commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 359,403 filed Mar. 18, 1982. In that application, a foam piece is used to act as a locking mechanism or holding mechanism for the coiled sutures.
The present invention represents a further improvement in packages of the multistrand type where the ends of the suture are automatically presented when the sterile envelope is opened. It is an object of the present invention to produce a retainer which is simple to use and assists in holding the sutures in place in their coiled configuration while the retainer is being folded and locked for further manipulation. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a folded suture retainer from which individual suture strands may be removed while insuring that only one strand is removed at a time and also that while removing that strand other strands within the package are not entangled or displaced.